


In Peace

by I_Gave_You_Fair_Warning



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Ahsoka Stays, Bittersweet Ending, Canon Divergence - Revenge of the Sith, F/M, Gen, Heavy Angst, No Empire, Obi-Wan Adores Babies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-15
Updated: 2017-10-15
Packaged: 2019-01-17 17:10:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12370248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Gave_You_Fair_Warning/pseuds/I_Gave_You_Fair_Warning
Summary: Anakin makes a different choice in the Chancellor's office in Revenge of the Sith, and things dramatically change.





	In Peace

**Author's Note:**

> Here's something quite old. I haven't done much, just changed the formatting a bit. A relic of an earlier era of my writing.
> 
> You'll recognize some of these ideas that ended up becoming something else in newer stories, but I stumbled across this manuscript and decided there was no harm in sharing it.
> 
> Hell, if you guys didn't like repeated themes, what are you doing clicking on another of my stories?
> 
> In this story, Kit Fisto did not go with the team sent to apprehend Palpatine because I wanted him for later. Ahsoka did not leave the Order, because it was the one part of Clone Wars that I disliked to my absolute core. Welcome to the time capsule.

 

Anakin is drawn inexorably to the room where the confrontation between the Jedi High Council and the newly-revealed Sith Lord rages...

He comes with tears burning his eyes and agony in his heart. Forced by fate and an unthinkable choice.

And for him, there is only one option.

Only one.

He will do what is right.

He will do everything he can to save Padmé— everything except betray the Light and his calling.

One by one, the Jedi fall.

Until only the High Council Master is left.

The Sith Lord is disarmed, begging for mercy.

And in strides Anakin Skywalker, the Chosen One.

“You see?” Palpatine pleads, false terror in his voice. “I told you they would try to kill me!”

“As they should.”  
This is not the response Sidious is looking for.

The time for ruse and farce is over.

And suddenly, he realizes his plans may fall to pieces.

He may die. He may lose everything.

He still has one chance...

An explosion of Force-energy whirls out from him, throwing Mace Windu backwards. Anakin is far enough away that he isn't knocked over, only windswept. His lightsaber leaps into his hand and ignites. He rushes forward, and is met with Force-lightning. He catches it on his blade.

Mace Windu leaps to his feet...

And then everything goes completely wrong.

 

/ / /

 

Sidious caught both knights by their throats telekineticlly. He squeezed. Anakin's lightsaber clunked to the floor, but Mace managed to hang on to his.

He pulled Mace to the floor and dropped a section of the ceiling on top of him. The Korun Master cried out as it struck, and Sidious let go. He transfixed Anakin with a blast of tearing, burning lightning.

Anakin cried out, then clenched his teeth and brought the noise to a growled close. His head, which had thrown back, tilted up and his gaze fixed the Sith's.

Sidious let go of him, dropping Anakin into a smoking heap on the floor.

From his sleeve and into his right hand snapped a hilt.

Sidious looked down at Anakin, who was struggling to regain control over his body, with a sick smile.

Anakin pulled himself to his hands and knees, his head drooped. He panted. He had never felt lightning like this before. Not when Dooku incapacitated him on Geonosis. Not when the same Count had knocked him out on Naboo.

But he wasn't going to let Sidious leave this room alive. He called his fallen lightsaber to his right hand.

He began to stand, but Sidious unleashed another barrage which brought him to his knees once more.

“That is where you belong, Chosen One,” Sidious said calmly, stopping the blue flood. “Think, Anakin. Padmé. Only I have the power to save her from certain death.”  
Anakin, gasping for air, tried to start forward again, but once again Sidious brought him to the floor.

“If you kill me, you will die,” Sidious promised. “And where will Padmé be then? Doomed and alone. The Jedi will not help her,” he spat out. “If Master Windu leaves this place alive, he will take the knowledge that you are married to Padmé Amidala with him. They will make no move to help your wife and child. And even if you survived, they would expel you from the Order, and you would have no opportunity to learn the power to save her.”

Anakin gave up the walking plan, and instead crawled forward.

Sidious sent electricity pounding through his body once more.

But this time, Anakin refused to let it stop him.

He pushed forward, his teeth clenched, his eyes blazing.

“You've failed as a Jedi, Anakin. If you survived this, the Jedi would stand back and let Padmé die. They would throw you out of the Temple and their precious Order... leaving you to survive as best you could. Your so-called  _ friends  _ would turn on you.”

Anakin kept on towards him.

“Padmé  _ will _ die if you kill me. And you know it.”

Anakin reached him. Under the full weight of the lightning, he stood.

Mace Windu struggled to free himself from the heavy blocks, but couldn't get leverage, and the Dark Side hung thick about the room, hindering his strength in the Force.

Anakin took a staggering step forward and ignited his blue blade. He struck at Sidious, but the Dark Lord sidestepped. He broke off the lightning attack, but he stood behind Anakin now and instantly pressed his lightsaber hilt against Anakin's back.

Anakin stabbed his blue blade backwards and tried to turn just as blood red spilled from the Sith's emitter, burning through his gut. His head snapped backwards and his knees buckled with a subdued cry of pain.

Through the Force he could sense the jolt and wavering behind him.

His blow had struck home.

Anakin collapsed forward.

“My wound is fatal,  _ Skywalker _ ,” spat the Sith from where he sat leaning against the desk, gasping for air. A deep slash across his abdomen still faintly glowed. “But Padmé dies with me, as does your child. And now... so will all hope of Balance—” he said the word like a curse— “and all the Jedi. Neither of you will leave this building alive.”

He pushed a button on his wristband.

Anakin lay still on the floor, his eyes glassy, his breathing agonized.

Mace Windu finally extricated himself and launched forward, to find that Sidious was dead.

The holotranceiver on the desk lit up. It was a recorded message.

“This is Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, to all Clone Commanders. Suspend all other activities and execute Order Sixty-Six. Kill all the Jedi, including the Padawans.”

Suddenly Mace Windu understood.

There was no way to recall the order. The clones would obey it.

And because they were just obeying orders, not betraying...

The Jedi would have no warning.

“Anakin!” he yelled, dropping to his knees beside the young knight, who was focusing on healing techniques...

If he focused, he might live.

And if he lived, he would do everything in his power to save Padmé. He was not going to give in.

“Anakin, the Jedi will be wiped out. We can't contact them all in time. We have to do it through the Force. And you are the only one strong enough to do it. Warn them, Anakin!”

Anakin knew what Windu was asking.

“Have compassion on my wife,” he gasped. “Help her.” Then he closed his eyes and put all thoughts of her from him. He focused. He centered. He drew in air and the Force, and then exploded outward with a surge of power so great it nearly blinded Mace.

The call was instant. Took no time. In a heartbeat, every Jedi everywhere knew that the clones would try to kill them, that Palpatine was the Sith Lord. That they were betrayed.

Thousands upon thousands of Jedi dodged right as their clones fired.

And fully warned, they survived. Many remained in their areas to wait for further instructions.

Others sped back to the Temple as fast as they could.

And every one felt the black pall over their hearts.

The Sith— both of them— were dead. And the final Sith plot had been averted. The Jedi had survived.

Balance had been brought to the Force.

But the caller... the Chosen One... whom they all recognized in that call to be Anakin Skywalker...

Had given up himself in that call.

Each Jedi across the galaxy, near and far, knew for a fact that he was dying.

The yell that had torn itself from Anakin's lungs as he sent out the call rang in Mace Windu's ears. The boy fell back, still, unblinking, staring at nothing, his teeth clenched and bared.

Mace Windu stared down at him. He could feel the change in the Force.

The lifting of the weight that had darkened Master Yoda's visions. That had limited their abilities.

Balance had been brought.

And the boy had overcome not only his attachment, but his fear and anger.

The Sith were dead. The Jedi saved. The Republic saved. Balance brought.

And the boy was dying.

Anakin gasped for breath and his body shivered in pain.

Mace Windu knelt beside him, placing his palm against the side of Anakin's face. “You did it. Hear me, Anakin. The Jedi have been saved. And you have brought Balance.”

Anakin lay panting, without responding.

“You have not only earned my trust, but my respect, Jedi  _ Master  _ Skywalker.”

Windu could sense that Anakin had heard. But the promotion would be pointless if he died here.

Mace closed his eyes and sought to bring healing to the wound in his gut. It wasn't much, but might hold until they reached the Temple's medical wing.

Anakin's body suddenly snapped into tension. His head and back arced backwards, his eyes as far open as possible. The cry of agony that tore from his lungs was forceful enough, but the explosion of pain that roared outward nearly incapacitated the Jedi high master.

It had been a torrent in the Force. A dying thrash that every Jedi in the galaxy felt and cringed under. Their Chosen One was dying. And his death... was something terrible... something...

No Jedi had ever experienced before.

Mace Windu pulled back from the now-limp form and stared at him in horror.

The yawning chasm that had opened before him was gasping, consuming.

What was happening to Anakin?

Death meant becoming one with the Force. And with the Force in Balance... why did the Korun master feel as though the Force was being...  _ ripped  _ out of Anakin?

Kit Fisto and Eeth Koth raced into the room. They had felt Anakin's sacrifice in a different part of the senate building, and had raced to get to the source.

“What  _ was  _ that a second ago? After the call— the second—” Kit Fisto panted.

“I don't know. We have to get him back to the Temple,” Mace ordered. “Now. I'll take point; Koth, you bring up the rear.”  
Kit Fisto gently lifted Anakin in his arms, reaching out to the Force for strength and steadiness. The three then ran for the exits.

 

* * *

 

Obi-Wan gasped and stumbled against one of the large, narrow pillars of rock that infested the planet.

Intense, searing pain ripped through him.

And a warning.

He dodged to the side just as Cody and his men began firing.

His shock was horrible.

He had to get back to the Temple.  _ Now _ .

The entire universe had just changed. A horrible darkness had been averted, and the bringer of the darkness was dead. Balance was suddenly brought forth into being.

But that wasn't why he had to get back.

Anakin was dying. That shriek in the Force... the call... the warning...

Had torn something else from him too.

He evaded his men and leaped into his fighter. No sooner did he break clear of the atmosphere than he set his course for Coruscant and pushed the ship to its fastest.

 

* * *

 

Ahsoka and Padmé sat talking together.

The warning death-cry hit Ahsoka like a hammer.

Her Master.

Dying.

They were betrayed.

She leaped to her feet and dashed out the door.

Padmé cried out and doubled over. Ahsoka froze and spun around.

“Anakin,” Padmé whispered. She stood up, but nearly collapsed.

“Padmé!” Ahsoka cried, racing to her.

“What happened?” Padmé asked, horror screaming from her face and sense. “I—” A horrible pain tightened in her gut.

“You're going into labor,” Ahsoka cried, alarmed. “You're early!”  
“Not very,” Padmé admitted. “But what did you feel—”  
“Something's wrong. I have to get to the Temple! Here, I'll help you to a medical station first—”

And then Ahsoka's back arched and her eyes rolled up into her head. She cried out in pain and horror. Padmé screamed. The children within her felt it, and channeled it to her.

“What was that?” Padmé demanded in horror.

Ahsoka's normally orange skin seemed to have gone a pasty pink. “I have to  _ go _ !”

“It's Anakin.”  
“Yes. Here, I'll call a medical droid, it'll come to you—” Sudden shock spilled across her face. “You  _ felt  _ that?  _ How _ ?”

“The baby,” Padmé stammered as another labor pain struck her. “You have to let me come with you!”

“They won't let you in,” Ahsoka pointed out.

“I  _ have to go _ , Ahsoka! The baby is—  _ his _ . Anakin is— is— my husband. You have to let me come with you!”  
Ahsoka stared at her in shock, then her gaze dropped to Padmé's waist.

“Yes,  _ his  _ child. Come  _ on _ !”

But another of the horrible, agonizing stabs through the Force struck.

The two recovered as best as they could and stumbled for the door.

 

* * *

 

Obi-Wan Kenobi was flying through hyperspace when the first metal-on-glass shriek tore through the Force. His entire body went rigid, and his teeth clenched. White sparks flashed before his eyes.

Anakin.

_ What  _ was happening to Anakin?  
He was so far away, he shouldn't have even been able to hear a Force call.

And yet...

Something horrible was happening.

There was a pall.

Balance was here, but a terrible thing was about to occur.

 

* * *

 

Jedi all across the galaxy felt the pain tearing outwards.

The death-throes of the Chosen One.

They were not incapacitated like Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, and Padmé...

But...

It tore their hearts.

Because it was for them. It was all for them.

And they knew it.

Mace Windu stood beside Yoda, both intently watching the form on the table.

Anakin lay shaking, panting. “Padmé—  _ please _ — do everything you can to— save her—”

Yoda gravely shook his head.

“I— know I did wrong— but I can't say I'm—”  
“Quiet yourself, Anakin,” Mace said quietly.

For once...

Not harsh.

“We will do what we can for her.”

Anakin tried to calm himself, but another, greater spasm swept outwards from him as his entire body screamed.

He struggled to even his breathing as it passed, his eyes in constant motion, struggling to focus.

“What's happening to me?” he begged. “I— I can't feel anything—”

“The Force, being torn from you it is,” Yoda said.

Anakin flinched. “Master Yoda— are you there? I can't sense you— I can't—”

“If his life-force is stolen—”

“Not his life-force. Life remains, but the  _ Force  _ is taken. The midi-chlorians are leaving. Perhaps dying.”

“Is that even  _ possible _ ?” Mace Windu demanded in shock, turning to his short, green companion. “Has this ever happened before?” 

“Evidently, possible it is, though what the outcome and implications will be, I know not.” Yoda's head shook mournfully, his ears swaying. “To my knowledge, happened before, this has never.”

Anakin lay unhearing, his gaze now fixed on the wall, unable to take anything in.

Mace looked at Yoda in bewilderment and urgency. “But he was  _ created  _ by the Force, and his count is higher than any—”

“Yes. Survive this, he will not.” Yoda lifted sad eyes to meet Mace's gaze.

“But why is this happening?” Mace Windu demanded. “He brought balance to the Force! Why is it withdrawing from him?”

“Know not the answer, do I. But a punishment, this is not. Done no wrong, has Skywalker in this matter. A reaction from his call, perhaps this is. A price.”

Yes, Mace Windu now realized. This  _ was  _ somehow connected to the call.

The call that had taken so much from him that he would never recover.

Now it was taking even more from him.

“If he dies, will he become one with the Force, when it has been stripped from him?”

“Know not, do I.”

 

* * *

 

“ _ Please  _ let her in,” Ahsoka begged Jurokk.

“I can't,” he explained patiently. “I do not believe Senator Amidala to be a threat, but Master Yoda was explicit. We can't allow any non-Jedi to enter the Temple at this time.”

“But she's going into labor and the child is very Force-sensitive,” Ahsoka begged. “She  _ felt  _ the warning Master Skywalker sent out.  _ That's  _ what sent her into labor—”

“Then get her quickly to a medical—”

“ _ Please  _ just ask Master Yoda,” Ahsoka pleaded.

Compassion filled Jurokk's eyes. “Alright.” He raised his comlink. “Master Yoda? Padawan Tano is requesting Senator Amidala be admitted—”

“Let her in, and tell Ahsoka to bring her directly to where Skywalker is,” Mace Windu's voice came back through the wrist comm.

Both Jedi stared in surprise, but Ahsoka was instantly on the move, pulling Padmé through the halls of the Temple in the right direction.

They reached the open door and hurried in.

“Anakin—” Padmé gasped, seeing the tense frame with his back to her.

Anakin visibly jumped. “Padmé—?”

She hurried around to his face.

He was shaking uncontrollably now. “I couldn't sense you— the baby— are you safe—”

“I'm fine,” she said, tears starting to slide down her cheeks. “But you—”

She glanced up, her expression half-guilty, half-afraid at Yoda and Windu.

But neither seemed upset.

“Yes, we know of your marriage,” Mace Windu said quietly.

But before anything else could be said, Anakin's body jerked and he screamed again, blinding pain through the Force lashing out.

Padmé stumbled backwards, and Mace Windu kept her from falling. She cried out, doubling over.

“Take Senator Amidala to a room, I will,” Yoda volunteered, calling to a young Jedi knight to carry her down.

“Padmé—” Anakin cried out.

“She's in labor,” Mace Windu said, bending low over him. “We'll do everything we can to keep her and the baby safe. I promise.”

Ahsoka slipped over, tears in her eyes. She reached out to put a hand on his forehead. “What's happening to him?”

As her hand touched his skin, she jerked it back with a cry.

The contact had felt like pushing against a knife. A cold knife.

“The Force is being torn from him,” Mace Windu explained.

“Ahsoka—” Anakin's voice was shaky, and Ahsoka could detect fear. “I can't feel anything— are you—”

“Padmé told me,” she said quietly, not taking the hand that lay beside his face. “I'm not... upset.”

“Be honest with me,” Anakin choked. “Is she safe? Is she all right?”

“As far as I know she'll be fine,” Ahsoka assured him.

She could sense him. But he couldn't sense her. Not at all.

“I— I wouldn't know if you were lying to me—”

“Believe me, Master. We're going to do everything we can—”  
“Go with her—” he commanded. “Go with her—”

Ahsoka glanced at Windu, and he nodded. She leaned over Anakin once again. “I'm going to go to Padmé. Be strong, Master.” She sped from the room.

It wasn't a minute later that Anakin exploded outwards again.

This time, infinitely worse than ever before.

Mace Windu nearly collapsed.

And this time, chaos erupted in the Temple.

Mace Windu felt it before the urgent calls came in.

A youngling had died in the hall in the level above.

And a Padawan— a young girl— had been shocked into unconsciousness. They didn't know if they would be able to save her.

“Evacuate all younglings and Padawans to the farthest wing of the Temple,” Mace commanded. “And keep all Jedi away! Move all those in the medical facility to the farthest rooms away from Skywalker's.”

“Master, we can't move the Senator. She's in a critical condition,” Ahsoka's voice came back, tinny through the comlink.

“Just get everyone else moved,” Mace repeated.

He stared down at the oblivious Anakin. He lay staring vacantly, shock across his face.

A familiar presence brushed into Mace's awareness.

Several moments later, Obi-Wan Kenobi raced into the room, horror and dread in his face.

“Anakin—?”  
Anakin drew in a shuddering breath. Obi-Wan moved to where his former Padawan could see him.

“Master—”

Quietly, Mace Windu explained what was happening to him.

“Padmé—” Anakin whispered, not seeming to hear Windu's voice. “Obi-Wan—”

Obi-Wan leaned over him. Bracing himself, he placed his hand on Anakin's forehead.

Yes, the contact was painful. But if Anakin couldn't sense him...

He  _ had  _ to help him somehow. If he couldn't feel him through the Force, he would feel him physically.

“Promise me—” he gasped. “Obi-Wan— I married Padmé right after the First Battle of Geonosis—”  
Obi-Wan started, but mastered his surprise and horror. He couldn't prevent the quick cut of his glance towards Mace Windu's, whose expression proved this wasn't the first time he'd heard this.

“Obi-Wan, promise me you will look out for her— and— raise my child—”

Obi-Wan stared deeply down into his friend's eyes, fighting the grief that wanted to overwhelm him. Anakin had come through, had been everything Qui-Gon believed.

And now he was dying.

“Train him— be a father to him— like you were to me,” Anakin panted. “He... will be like me. I never had a father—”

“Anakin—”

The younger man's left hand— his living hand— clamped down on Obi-Wan's forearm.

“Promise me, Obi-Wan,” he begged.

Obi-Wan's voice was low but solemn. “I promise.”

Anakin let go of him with a reflexive movement. His face twisted in pain. “I— should be with— her now—”

His voice was weak.

“Go— be there for her— for me—”

Obi-Wan fought back tears. “I'm going, Anakin. I'm going.” He pressed his hand deeper into Anakin's forehead. “Goodbye, old friend.”

Anakin couldn't respond.

And as Obi-Wan hurried down the deserted hall and into the lift, he felt a sudden shockwave of agony screaming outwards from Anakin's room. A tear broke past his guard and slid down his cheek as he stumbled.

The prophecy had said nothing of the Chosen One dying as a result of bringing Balance.

He found Yoda and Ahsoka already there. Ahsoka releasing worry into the space around her, and Yoda as calm as always.

Padmé was screaming.

Yoda sent Ahsoka back to her master, but remained as Obi-Wan drew close.

“Tell me the truth, Obi-Wan,” she panted. “Is Anakin alright?”  
“He will be if  _ you  _ and the baby are,” Obi-Wan returned quietly, mastering his voice and face.

“I can feel his pain—”

“His pain will be helped if he knows you and the baby are safe,” Obi-Wan soothed. “Focus on the child, Padmé. For Anakin's sake. It will ease his mind to know you are safe.”

“I promised him I wouldn't die in childbirth—”  
“Let's keep that promise,” Obi-Wan encouraged her, allowing himself to pour strength and comfort into her.

He smiled softly, and Padmé latched on to the smile. Clung to it, and focused.

“Calm your mind,” he said softly. “Think only of the baby.”

 

* * *

 

“Twins, they are.”

Ahsoka was leaning over her master, hurting alongside him, but not touching him. Her hand was still numb from earlier.

“Die, they and the Senator will, if to another wave, Anakin gives in.”  
Mace looked up grimly.

_ Could  _ Anakin control the explosion in the Force each tear created? Each one had been worse than the one previous. No Jedi but Windu, Ahsoka, and Fisto outside the door remained in this part of the Temple. A level below and to the side were Yoda and Obi-Wan with Padmé...

And two  _ very  _ Force-sensitive, unborn children.

“Anakin,” Ahsoka murmured. His gaze focused in on her face. “Listen to me. You have to hold it in. The next strike that hits you  _ have  _ to hold in. You can't let it expand out. It will  _ kill  _ Padmé and your twins otherwise. She's carrying  _ twins _ , Anakin. A boy and a girl.”

“Luke— Leia—” he ground between clenched teeth.

“Yes, Anakin,” Ahsoka soothed. “Padmé, Luke, and Leia  _ need  _ you to be strong. You have to fight back. You can't let the next one out. You have to hold it in. They will be safe if you can do that. All will be well. But it will kill them if you let it out again. Do you understand?”  
The expression of his face and his sense proved he did.

Terribly so.

Ahsoka had felt the sense of his determination many times before.

Even with regards to Padmé.

But this was beyond any she had ever felt from him before. This was beyond determination.

He would die a thousand deaths to save those three.

And even then he felt another wave coming.

“You should leave the room, Padawan Tano,” Mace Windu urged.

“I'm not leaving him,” she declared.

“You could be severely injured or die, Ahsoka!” Windu's formality broke into urgency.

“Fine. But I am  _ not  _ leaving him. Even if what happens to him happens to me.” She reached out and took Anakin's real hand in her own, defying the danger and pain.  
And Mace Windu honored her choice.

After all, he was still here.

But then again, he was one of the four strongest Jedi in the galaxy.

Anakin twisted in unbearable agony, but even as the waves attempted to leave him, he caught them and drew them back into himself.

His pain exploded, rapidly going from basic multiplying to exponentials as each wave intensified and vibrated more harshly through him. His teeth bared, his head thrown back, his eyes staring...

The two Jedi could physically  _ see  _ the blue-white fog of pain thickening, as Anakin refused to allow it to escape.

And still it continued. With nowhere to go, it couldn't leave.

The pressure built, and a clear, solid geyser of pain punched upwards, but before it reached the ceiling, it wavered, bent... then surged down into him once again. Ahsoka's head threw back, and her eyes rolled up, as a tenth of his pain jolted through her.

For ten seconds, Mace Windu shielded his eyes with his arms from the blinding light—

And then with an inward explosion, it was past.

Anakin lay utterly still, his teeth clenched and lips drawn away, blood draining from his mouth, his vacant eyes staring, fixed... looking at nothing.

Perhaps it should have been called an  _ implosion _ . The pain swirled and sank within... opening something that tugged at Mace Windu...

And suddenly the last of the midi chlorians in Anakin's cells died. And instantly, there was a gap in the Force.

And not just a gap.

The implosion... the swirling, disappearing pain...

Ahsoka lay against the table, only partially conscious. Mace grabbed her by the arm and leaped to the door. He pulled her out, and slammed the door shut, just as the black hole fully emerged.

He could feel the almost irresistible, tearing vacuum.

It was trying to tear the Force out of  _ him  _ now.

Anakin had become a vacuum in the Force.

Kit Fisto and Mace Windu looked at one another in horror.

“He is not dead yet,” the nautolan observed, his voice tense. “He may yet be saved.”

Ahsoka pulled herself together. “ _ How _ ?”  
“If he could be given the Force.”

And suddenly Ahsoka got it. “If I go back in there, the vacuum will draw the Force from me and give it to him? And it might save him?”   
“ _ Might _ ,” Windu scowled. “But it's highly likely that it  _ won't _ — and it would do to you what it did to him. Only you would die faster because you aren't as strong.”

“It's worth the risk.” Ahsoka stepped toward the door.

“That is not our only option.” Fisto's voice stopped her. And made Mace turn to him again. “You as a Padawan would undoubtedly die. However, if I went in, it is possible that we would both survive.”

“ _ Neither  _ of you as Jedi, however!” Mace Windu protested. “If you somehow manage to give him enough midi-chlorians to save his life and stop the vacuum, you will be dropped to the strength of either the weakest Padawan, or the totally Force-unsensitive!”

“It is a sacrifice I am willing to make. Ahsoka, be ready to help your master when he awakes. He is the Chosen One. Being an ordinary human will be beyond excruciating. He will need your compassion and assistance.”

“Yes, Master,” Ahsoka choked.

Fisto nodded to Windu, then motioned them to stand back.

They did so.

He opened the door, and it was like opening a space lock. He walked in, his lekku swept as if in a great wind, and closed the door.

The two returned to the door and looked through the clear window.

Fisto approached the bed, and placed one green hand against Anakin's forehead, and the other on his chest.

In the Force, they could feel pain erupting through the Nautolan's body. His lekku twitched, he tensed, but didn't cry out and didn't pull back.

The two watched breathless.

And then Kit Fisto collapsed forward, draped over the table and Anakin, and the torrent slowed... then ceased from their consciousness.

Mace Windu cautiously opened the door and entered...

And sensing that it was over, raced forward, followed hard by Ahsoka.

 

* * *  
  


Downstairs, Obi-Wan could still feel Anakin's pain, though it was being contained. His connection was too deep to miss it.

Anakin was beyond in agony. He was killing himself.

Obi-Wan soothed Padmé, and when the medical droid held out a newborn, already clean, he took it in his arms.

“It's a boy,” he said quietly.

Padmé looked up, tears staining her face. “Luke.”

And at that moment...

Anakin's presence disappeared. The baby flinched and started crying.

“Oh, Luke,” Padmé soothed, but broke off—

“A girl, it is,” Yoda announced.

Padmé took several deep breaths, then held out her hands for Luke. Obi-Wan carefully transferred the little treasure to his mother, and brought the daughter forward.

“Leia,” Padmé said instantly.

Obi-Wan struggled within, but kept it from his face.

Anakin was gone.

Both children had felt it, and were crying. But then...

Babies always cried when just born. And Padmé didn't seem to realize that their tears were connected with Anakin. She was fully entranced by the miracle before her.

And Obi-Wan smiled down at them, though his heart was breaking.

Anakin was gone.

And it had been excruciating...

But he had saved his family.

Padmé had  _ not  _ died in childbirth, and wasn't likely to die any time soon. Neither were the children.

His heart wept great tears of blood.

Yes...

They were fatherless... and Padmé a widow.

And he?

What was Obi-Wan?

Only half of what he once was. Part of himself had died. He softly handed Leia to Padmé with a smile.

Padmé's golden moment would not be marred by  _ him. _

Anakin had made him promise to watch over Padmé.

He would begin here and now, with this. Let her have a few more moments of bliss before her world was shattered.

 

_* * *_

 

Mace Windu reached out and lifted the nautolan master off the table, and placed him gently on the floor.

He swiftly tested the master's midi-chlorian count as Ahsoka leaned over her master.

“He's breathing—”

So was Kit Fisto.

But his midichlorian count...

Was barely above the “Jedi accepted” line.

He was still a Jedi...

But barely.

“I need someone up here right away to help me with Master Fisto,” Mace Windu barked into his comlink.

“Master?” Ahsoka asked.

Mace Windu tested Anakin's count...

But...

He and Ahsoka stared at the results in numb horror.

Nothing.

Her Master...

Who had once had the highest count of any known Jedi...

The most powerful...

The  _ Chosen One _ ...

Had so few midi-chlorians now that he was excruciatingly not Force-sensitive.

He would live.

But he would never again be a Jedi.

Tears filled Ahsoka's eyes.

She couldn't imagine knowing what the Force was like and then having it be gone.

He would... it would be horrible.

And with Padmé recovering and taking care of the children...

_ Padmé _ .

“Obi-Wan, how is Padmé?” she asked into her comlink.

“Tired but recovering remarkably well. Master Vokara Che is helping her now... she should be able to be up and about in an hour or so. We thought it best to accelerate healing as quickly as we could.”

“And the children?”

“Luke and Leia are fine.”

Ahsoka closed her eyes to try to stop her tears, but it didn't work. “Anakin is alive, and he should recover,” she reported, her voice choked despite her best efforts.

“He's—” Obi-Wan's voice betrayed his astonishment. Emotion thickened his voice. “ _ Alive _ ?”  
“Yes. And should recover, but it will take time.”

And she knew Obi-Wan had sensed something else was wrong.

“I felt great pain from Kit Fisto,” he said suddenly.

“Yes. Master Fisto... Master Fisto gave some of his midi-chlorians to Anakin. It's why Anakin's alive.”

“Are they—”

Obi-Wan couldn't bring himself to ask.

“Master Fisto is... barely entry-level, but he is still Jedi.” And now the tears rolled freely down Ahsoka's cheeks, and she wasn't ashamed. For a Master to drop that far was to give up his life. She couldn't imagine what Fisto would pass through learning how to live now.

And he had known the price when he gave himself.

“But Anakin... Anakin is no longer Force sensitive.”

And even Ahsoka could feel the impact from Obi-Wan, a little over and beneath, as the news hit him like a punch of marble in the gut.

There was a long moment of silence. Then...

“Is he awake?”

“No. Neither of them. Master Koth and Master Vos are here. They'll take care of Master Fisto. But... as soon as you can get up here...”

“Yes, Obi-Wan,” Windu seconded, as he followed Koth, Vos, and Fisto out of the room. “Get here now.”

“I'm on my way.”

 

* * *

 

“Obi-Wan—”

The fear in Padmé's face was horrible. “They aren't lying?”

“He's alive and will recover,” Obi-Wan promised. “They wouldn't lie to me about it.”

“Go—  _ go _ —” she urged. “He needs you— oh, my poor Anakin... how will he bear it? I  _ must  _ go to him—”

As Obi-Wan raced out the door and down the hall he could hear Yoda calmly convincing her to wait.

Her children needed her.

But he knew that wouldn't keep her long.

Yes, there he was.

Anakin lay completely limp on the table, Ahsoka gently stroking his forehead, weeping silently.

No other Jedi in sight.

Obi-Wan came to his other side, and looked down at his former Padawan.

Yes. Alive.

And physically...

Physically he would recover without any lingering trouble from this.

But  _ mentally _ ...

Could he handle it? The Chosen One?

Obi-Wan could sense him.

And he felt... just like any other human.

No wonder Ahsoka was crying.

And in that moment Obi-Wan knew why he had not taken another Padawan.

It was so that he could complete Ahsoka's training. It would be a few years before the young Skywalkers had need of teachers.

Anakin's eyes struggled open, and he gasped for breath.

“Obi-Wan— Ahsoka—”  
“Lie still, Master,” Ahsoka said, wiping her tears from her face with the back of her hand. “You're going to be all right.”  
“Padmé— the twins—”  
“They are all fine,” Obi-Wan assured him. “Padmé will recover fully in another hour or so; Tra Sa'a and Vokara Che are both at work right now. Luke and Leia are perfectly healthy, and very strong in the Force.”

Anakin shivered. “I... feel so empty. It's gone, isn't it, Obi-Wan?” His clear blue eyes searched Obi-Wan's face. “The Force has left me?”

Obi-Wan struggled against his own tears. One slipped past his guard. “Not completely. But... you are no longer Force-sensitive.”

Anakin took the news quietly, at any rate.

Obi-Wan could sense no anger... and the fear was well under control.

“They are safe?” he asked again.

“Yes.”

“Obi-Wan, I don't know what I will do without—”  
“Hush, Anakin. Rest for now. I promise you, you will not face this on your own. I  _ will  _ stand by you.”

“He's right, Master,” Ahsoka seconded. “We'll figure this out. We'll make this work. I'm not leaving either.”

Tears filled Anakin's eyes. He couldn't put his feelings into words.

But his two friends felt the import anyway.

“I— I need to see them—”  
“I don't think we should move you,” Ahsoka pointed out. “Obi-Wan, can we bring them up here?”  
Obi-Wan contacted Master Yoda.

“Yes, fine that should be.”

“We'll come for them. We would prefer it if no one else was around.”

“Understood, that is. Done, it will be.”  
And so it was that Anakin, his head facing the door, saw Obi-Wan carry in his wife.

“Please— all the way over,” Padmé urged, chafing against the fact that she couldn't yet stand. Obi-Wan set her feet to the floor, but cradled her with the Force and with his arm around her waist, to keep her weight off them.

She studied Anakin's face deeply. “Are you all right?” she asked, her voice intense.

“Perfectly, now,” he murmured. “And you?”

“Absolutely. And so are the twins.”

She leaned down and kissed him passionately. He returned the caress.

And for the first time in their lives, the two didn't have to worry about Obi-Wan.

As she rose up again, Obi-Wan carefully settled her into the invalid chair, and pushed it up close to the table, adjusting the height so it was as though she was sitting on the bed next to Anakin.

And Ahsoka, standing in the doorway, came close with two bundles. She handed one to Padmé, glanced at Obi-Wan, and kept the second.

And Obi-Wan felt the strangest, most disconcerting sense of disappointment. Shocked at that feeling, he watched in silence, studying both Padmé and Anakin as Padmé pulled back the corner of blanket and revealed her bundle's face.

“Luke,” she whispered.

The intense look of awe in Anakin's face seared into Obi-Wan's mind. Awe... delight... gratitude... fierce love.

And yet...

No attachment.

Anakin had finally learned to let go. And so he met his son without fear.

For a long moment Anakin stared at the tiny face, his fingers softly touched the small, round cheek...

“What color are his eyes?” he asked quietly, to keep from waking the sleeping child.

“Blue. Intense blue like yours,” Padmé murmured back, her voice filled with intense joy. “Oh, Anakin...”

She turned to Obi-Wan and held out her son.

Obi-Wan felt his heart bound, and wondered distantly why...

He carefully took the child, and stared down into the little face.

Ahsoka handed Padmé Leia...

And Obi-Wan was distantly aware of Anakin's awe and Padmé's joy...

But his full attention was captivated by the child in his arms.

Luke Skywalker.

Anakin would be unable to train them. But if the child was to be raised as a Jedi...

Obi-Wan would keep his promise.

But it was Anakin and Padmé's choice.

In the meantime...

Ahsoka was his responsibility. As was the entire little family.

“Both you and Padmé are in a weakened state,” Ahsoka explained. “Padmé's quarters are being readied for the four of you. We'll take you back there. However, a Jedi who is skilled in healing will need to be nearby at all times... and Master Yoda has appointed Master Kenobi.”

Obi-Wan looked up, gratitude flooding him.

He would have expected Yoda to appoint someone else for principle's sake.

“And someone needs to watch over the children while Padmé rests—”

“I won't need much rest,” Padmé interrupted.

“—And since I'm still technically Anakin's Padawan until things settle down... and therefore his responsibility to watch over... I'm coming too. Master Yoda didn't refuse my request.” Ahsoka's satisfied tone quieted. “Master Yoda  _ did  _ insist, however... that... your retinue be moved elsewhere, Padmé. He... doesn't want news of Anakin's condition or... marriage... or fatherhood... to be released until the Council has had an opportunity to discuss the matter. Captain Typho knows you have given birth and are safe, and that you will be under Jedi watch for a while. He is all right with that, and everyone has cleared out of your apartment.”

Padmé refrained from getting annoyed about Yoda's interference.

Yoda and Master Windu had already been far more lenient and kind than she had any expectation...

And Obi-Wan had been amazing.

She could handle a little bit of Jedi interference. She would respond kindly and graciously, since they had to her aiding Anakin in breaking the Jedi code.

And...

Since she owed Master Fisto Anakin's life.

Obi-Wan had asked her to not mention Kit Fisto to Anakin quite yet, and she had agreed. She knew that the knowledge of Fisto's sacrifice would be a heavy burden for him to bear... and if he could be happy... despite his new handicap...

And so they were settled, the four of them. Padmé and Anakin in the large bed, propped up by pillows, mostly with the children...

And when they  _ had  _ to sleep...

Ahsoka with the children.

Well... child _ ren  _ when she could get Luke away from Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan spent countless hours simply studying the child's Force signature and spirit... walking endlessly around the rooms... watching the child's face as he slept... the tiny fist curling and uncurling...

Occasionally he would be so engrossed that Anakin or Padmé would awaken without him noticing. They would lie still and watch... their hearts swelling.

Padmé found herself trusting Obi-Wan more than she ever had in her life. Yes. When the time came for Luke to go to the Temple— and the thought made her breath catch and her heart lurch— she could hand her son to Obi-Wan in total confidence.

And Leia?

Padmé secretly hoped...

Obi-Wan had officially requested to complete Ahsoka's training, which wouldn't take long...

Once Ahsoka was knighted...

Perhaps she would train Leia.

Padmé had no intention of dropping out of her children's lives just because they were destined to be two of the strongest force-wielders in history. She wanted to retain a place— both herself and Anakin.

She wasn't sure how the Council would view that...

Or even how Obi-Wan and Ahsoka would view that...

But she knew, somehow, deep within...

That it would work out.

There was a deep, deep change in Anakin. A beautiful change. A healing change. It thrilled Padmé to the core.

He was definitely still in shock of losing his connection to the Force...

But Luke and Leia were doing much to distract him from that.

Luke, Leia, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka.

Not one word or look of reproach had been given.

And his Master and former Padawan were more dear to him than ever.

And yet... he let go of his attachment.

And in letting go... he discovered them to be even more important to him than before...

But without the fear that had so constantly corroded his heart and ate like acid at his mind.

It was freeing.

It was beautiful.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Anakin proved he could love without attachment by his choice in Palpatine's office, so when he tells the Council he wants Ahsoka and Obi-Wan to train his kids and that he and Padmé are still going to be in Luke and Leia's lives, they have no problem with it.


End file.
